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Puffling Round-Up

28 August 2008

This is the time of year when our pufflings (young puffins) have been fledging from their burrows and making their first flights out to sea, without any help from their parents. The pufflings make this first flight under cover of darkness, as at this time they are particularly vulnerable to predators such as black-backed gulls and bonxies. Unfortunately, a small proportion of the fledgers seem to be attracted in to the noise and lights of the Base, and so we all make a special effort just now to switch all unnecessary lights off and to encourage everyone to draw their curtains (not normally a necessity in such a sparsely populated place!). Even so, we always get a few birds attracted in, and they seem to particularly like hiding round the Power Station and under the kitchen extractor fans – maybe the noise reminds them of the sound of the sea in their burrows so they feel safe there? It’s also not unknown for a puffling to occasionally wander into the bar, the Puff Inn, of a dark and stormy evening if the doors are left open, which must be a bit of a confusing start for a young bird expecting to be bobbing about on the ocean instead!

 

1 puffling

 

Once they land on the Base, the birds will huddle into the nearest corner and seem to be unwilling or unable to take off again. To help them on their way, we walk round the Base early each morning and search all the places that a puffling may be found. Any we find are put into a box in a quiet, dark place for the day, and are released from the jetty at twilight, when most predators will hopefully have gone to roost. It’s always a moment of great satisfaction when they fly out to sea, with a fresh start in life.

 

When I first spent time on St Kilda, in the mid 1990’s, we were getting nearly 1,000 birds flying into the Base of a season, whereas now, with all our light reduction measures, it’s just a handful. I remember one night where we found over 100 birds. We started off by putting them in the empty bath, then when that got full we just put them on the floor of the bathroom and kept the door shut. When we felt the bathroom was getting a little too crowded for comfort, the kitchen floor was the next place. The noise of 100 pairs of puffin feet scrabbling away on the floors could be heard all over the house, and we were pretty glad to release them the next day and get a bit of peace and quiet. One interesting tip though if you ever find yourself in a house full of restless pufflings – play the mouth organ to them, as they all go instantly quiet and stare up at you in a fascinated manner. Now what the evolutionary significance of that is, I have no idea!

 

Sarah, Seabird and Marine Ranger

 

 

Hiding places, old and new

6 August 2008

One of the most recent interesting tasks was producing measured sketches of a ‘hidey hole’ in the scree of Mullach Sgar. There are a few useful hiding places around the bay and this is probably the best example, having been cleared out in 1876 by John Sands. Historical references where the St Kildans had to resort to concealment are fairly common and they fit into a wider culture in the islands of watch places, warning fires and hiding places. Coll MacDonald of Colonsay raided St Kilda in 1615 causing the people to hide initially before he ‘slew all the bestiall of the isle’ while one hundred redcoats in search of Bonnie Prince Charlie landed in June 1746 initiating the same response.

 

 

Hidey Hole

          The hidey hole

 

It is also proving a great pleasure to live in the manse, home to so many key residents and visitors through St Kildan history since its construction in 1828. Just the other day, while nodding off, I read George Clayton Atkinson’s description of his arrival in May 1831: ‘we were received by the minister Mr McKenzie on the rocks, and preceded with him to his house... He introduced us to his wife who is a Glasgow lady and has not one word of Gaelic. We foolishly neglected to bring them any newspapers, and were ourselves so threadbare of recent intelligence that we could only give them a general idea of political circumstances, and a short recital of the most spirited murders and accidents.’

 

    The Manse in 1938                     The manse in 1938

 

I’d like to say that the inhabitants are slightly better informed now…

 

George, Archaeologist

 

PS - Glasgow ladies to apply to gfgeddes@yahoo.com

 

Previous Entries

17 July 2008BACK TO NORMAL
25 June 2008Water, water everywhere…….
9 June 2008Things have hotted up and dried up
31 May 2008The excitement of stray visitors
28 May 2008A month of firsts for the archaeologist
8 May 2008THINGS ARE HOTTING UP!
25 April 2008First impressions - It's All Gone Green
16 April 2008Spring migrants
5 February 2008Rat threat to St Kilda
16 January 2008Manse Mysteries
6 December 2007Remembrance Service
26 September 2007Last words
23 September 2007Found already!!!
17 September 2007I name this ship.....
8 September 2007Sheep catch 2007
30 August 2007Ups and downs in the seabird season
13 August 2007Cleit of the week...
10 August 2007Nights at Carn Mor
25 July 2007Walls, walls, walls
12 July 2007Anyone for a glass of Revoltosa?
22 June 2007Bonxie chicks & Brocken spectres - First impressions from the Petrel-Skua Team
8 June 2007Sad end for a fulmar
24 May 2007New archaeological survey of St Kilda
2 May 2007Springtime on Kilda
16 April 2007Rocks away!
2 April 2007A 50th Celebration
6 February 2007A winter wonderland
26 September 2006Another season over
25 September 2006Last visitors of the season
11 September 2006The hop, skip and a jump to Dun
5 September 2006“I’ve started so I’ll finish”
28 August 2006Big red boats
19 August 2006Fine dining, blood, sweat, and tears
9 August 2006Puffins, Kittiwakes and other news
12 July 2006Seabirds, belly dancing and Viking snails
15 June 2006The Army Invade St Kilda
2 May 2006We're back!!! St Kilda 2006
21 October 2005The 75th Anniversary mailboat has been found!!!
8 September 2005Now that’s entertainment (magic)
1 September 2005The 75th Anniversary of the last evacuation of islanders from St Kilda, August 29th 2005
30 August 2005Norman Gillies and Family return
12 August 2005Wacky races
4 August 2005'Christopher' Wren Inspects Work On Hirta Kirk
25 July 2005Poor year for puffins
15 July 2005New Gaelic Bible for the Kirk
8 July 2005Working the night shift at St Kilda’s petrel station
28 June 2005The view from my window
20 June 2005Archaeology goes down the drain
16 June 2005End of an Era for St Kilda archaeology
8 June 2005John, Paul, Ringo and Toastcrumb
2 June 2005Normal service is resumed...
21 September 2004Still over 60 knots
21 September 2004And so to bed..
7 September 2004What a difference a day makes..
6 September 2004By Royal Appointment
30 August 200429th August 1930
21 August 2004Soay sheep research
12 August 2004A lucky escape
9 August 2004Repairing the Dry Burn
26 July 2004Digging for fairies
1 July 2004First catch your bonxie....